Transfomers Viral Site Updates – Lotta Backstory, Not Much ARG

Looks like the marketing for Transformers : Age of Extinction is kicking into a higher gear, as today they dropped the following in-universe news video on an unsuspecting internet:

If you visit the site mentioned at the end of the video, TransformersAreDangerous.com you’ll see it’s been updated to include the new video, a bunch of “news paper” articles chronicling the changes in attitude and policy towards Transformers, and some nifty propaganda posters. Nothing game changing, but some very neat world building.

Which is a shame, really. Seems like more and more movies are spending their time and money telling a bulk of the story outside of the movie itself. Both Star Trek reboots are super guilty of this – a huge chunk of both films were told in the lead-in comics, and a lot of the character motivation is lost if you haven’t read them. It’s looking like this is going to be the new norm, and that is unfortunate.

Movies should strive to present all the relevant information to understanding the story within the movie itself, and leave comics and tie-in novels to handle the other minutia, things that won’t impact the plot.

Also of note, the phone number is now slightly more active: rather than just playing a recording, it now asks that you report sightings at the tone, and gives you a chance to do your best “OMG I SAW A ROBOT!” story time. No idea what will be made of these reported sightings, but I’d be surprised if we don’t see them integrated into some later marketing videos.

As much as I’m not excited by the movie, I’m surprisingly excited by the marketing behind it. I have to admit, I’m curious to see what the end game is.